How Do I Gain Weight With Green Smoothies?

While most people turn to green smoothies and a whole foods diet to lose weight, some people need to gain weight. Others might feel that they are losing too much weight after they cut the fattening junk food from their diet.

Whole foods diets are less calorie dense than diets rich in pizzas, cheeseburgers and the sugar/fat-laden meals of the typical American/Western diet. If you have a high metabolism, or you tend toward being underweight, it is important to increase your food intake when you switch over to a diet that has more fiber and bulk, but fewer calories by volume.

Here are some tips for packing on the healthy weight without returning to unhealthy foods.

Choose Calorie Dense Foods

My first recommendation would be to calculate your exact calorie needs for your ideal body weight. Then use a food nutrient tracking website or app (I use Cron-O-Meter) and make sure you are consuming sufficient calories to maintain, or gain your desired body weight. This often means an increase in the amount of food you will need to consume.

When you make green smoothies, use high-calorie fruits like bananas, mangoes, red grapes, goji berries, sweet potato (cooked and cooled or raw), oats or hemp seeds. Toss in a few dates for even more calories without the extra bulk. Young green or Thai coconuts provide up to 170 calories or so and don’t add a lot of fat or bulk to your smoothie.

You don’t have to avoid water-rich foods like watermelon, berries and cucumbers altogether, but try to minimize them in your green smoothies. They add a lot of extra bulk and not a lot of calories.

Gain Muscle, Not Fat

The second thing to do is to give your body a reason to build itself with the proper materials – muscle. If you increase your calorie intake while maintaining a couch potato lifestyle, you’ll only succeed in adding body fat. That’s not something you want to bulk up with. What you want is muscle.

Most people effortlessly gain excess body fat because their body automatically stores additional calories, dietary fat and sugar as body fat. However, muscle is different. Your body does not store excess dietary protein. Therefore, you need to send your body a message to build muscle by working out, preferably with a regular weight or resistance-training workout.

Both increasing calories and working out will help your body add muscle weight rather than fat weight, which is what you want. While you can add a protein powder to your green smoothies, and you can make massive, 40-ounce smoothies that contain up to 800 or so calories, take a whole-diet approach (using whole foods) to build your body to the weight you want.

Add Some Healthy Whole Foods

I’d also recommend that you avoid the biggest pitfall in the raw food diet (if that’s the diet you are choosing) – the fat-infested raw gourmet “meals” of cacao cake, nut-based fruit pies, cookies and other uncooked junk food.

If you are still having trouble gaining weight after increasing calories and working out, see a dietician or nutritionist who can tailor a specific meal plan to help you reach your goal weight.

About Tracy Russell

I created Incredible Smoothies after I lost 40 pounds and dropped my cholesterol by 50 points. My goal in life is to motivate others to achieve their health and weight loss goals through whole foods and fitness. Read more about my story.

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Medical Disclaimer: The information on this website is not intended to be used as medical advice or to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional. The statements made on this website have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Always work directly with a qualified medical professional before attempting to treat any illness or medical condition with diet and lifestyle, or when changing or discontinuing any prescription medications. Always check with your doctor before starting any new diet or fitness program.